Stina¬†Nordenstam may or may not be a familiar name to you. Her output, as far as I know, is constricted to the 90s and early 2000s.¬†The World Is Saved¬†came out roughly a decade ago (2004) and then… nothing. Nordenstam hasn’t released anything since then and¬†she’s apparently quite reclusive. This was released before I was even interested in music and maybe you could tell, but this is my first time ever seeing her name.¬†The World Is Saved is a mix of downtempo, jazz, trip-hop, electronica, rock and pop. All things considered, it’s easier just to term this album “leftfield.” Her voice is¬†heavily tinged¬†Scandinavian and it almost feels like the instrumentation throughout this album is an afterthought to Nordenstam’s singing; it just seems like a mish-mash of whatever was around at the time.¬†Beacon Sound calls this album “timeless,” but I think it very much sounds of its time (not that that’s a bad thing). If you’re looking for nostalgia to those early aughts or if you’re looking for an album that’s rather peerless in comparisons, you’ve come to the right place, friend. You can find the album on Spotify and I’ve linked the title track below via the YouTube video so see what you think of it. Cheers!

The Details

STINA NORDENSTAM recorded 6 albums between 1991 and 2004 and in the ten years since The World Is Saved was released to critical acclaim, the famously reclusive Swedish musician has gone quiet. The album found the gifted lyricist in top musical form, combining elements of electronic and acoustic music, pop, and even jazz into her own compelling universe. The songs "shiver with foreboding and uncertainty", as The Guardian (4/5 stars) wrote at the time, and "seem to be the sound of her tentative progress out of a dark place, disconcerted yet full of wonder." The album reaches a fragile apex in the title track, when she sings 'I clashed with silence / I stumbled and fell / I blinked again, sure / This wasn't hell? / You had to look / In awe and surprise / Yet I'd found nothing / To life but my life / Pouring through me / The world is saved'.

Ten years later, the album still sounds timeless and Nordenstam's melancholic observations of human nature and the complexities of modern life resonate deeply. Beacon Sound is honored to be releasing The World Is Saved on vinyl for the first time. First pressing of 500 individually-numbered copies will contain an accompanying 7‚ÄĚ featuring a remix of ‚ÄėParliament Square‚Äô by THE KNIFE as well as the non-LP track ‚ÄėFailure To Fly.‚Äô Received an 8.6 rating from Pitchfork upon its original release.